View full sizeExpress-Times Photo | STEPHEN FLOODMike Lizzano, left, of Wilson Borough, verifies the identity of Lauretta Coyne, of Wilson Borough, today at the First Ward poll in the borough at Mary Meuser Memorial Library.

Voter turnout for the Pennsylvania primary election was very light this morning at a Wilson Borough polling place, Judge of Elections Michael Lizzano said.

"Maybe by suppertime it will pick up," he said outside the polling station at Mary Meuser Memorial Library on Northampton Street. "But right now it's low."

It was a similar story at other polling places.

So far turnout has been split between Republicans and Democrats, Lizzano said at his polling place. The edge was taken off today's Republican presidential primary when former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum suspended his campaign, leaving the field wide open for favorite Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. And there is a competitive race on the Democratic side in the new 17th District between incumbent Tim Holden and challenger Matt Cartwright.

View full sizeExpress-Times Photo | KURT BRESSWEINTwo signs and no voters about 10:45 this morning at Spring Garden Elementary School in Bethlehem.

Winnie Howey, of Wilson Borough, was voter No. 30 about 10:15 this morning at the library.

"It's unfortunate the race is pretty much over by the time it gets here," she said of the presidential challenge.

Maria Voletto, also of Wilson Borough, added that candidates dropping out of the presidential race limited the public interest in voting.

"They should have all the primaries on the same day," she suggested.

Only 21 people had voted by 10:45 this morning in the 7th Ward polling place at the Easton Area Community Center at Ninth and Washington streets in the city.

Judge of Election James Edinger described turnout as "smooth, but slow."

Voters for the first time are being asked to present a form of photo identification before casting ballots. It's the result of Pennsylvania's new voter ID law approved earlier this year. Those without identification will be allowed to vote today, but presenting identification will be mandatory for the general election in November, under the law.

Edinger, who is in his third term as Seventh Ward judge of election, said those casting ballots for the most part have been cooperative when asked for identification.

"Nobody's giving a hard time, but this is just the practice run," he said.

In Palmer Township, about 100 people had voted in the first three-and-a-half hours the polls were open at Faith Community Assembly of God on Freemansburg Avenue, according to Judge of Election Dan Kennedy.

"It's been nice and steady, pretty good for this time," Kennedy said.

In much of Northampton County, voters are casting ballots in a new congressional district thanks to legislative redistricting, the redrawing of political boundary lines.

Several communities are now part of the 17th Congressional District, which covers parts of six counties.

In the 15th Congressional District, where U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent is the incumbent, Dent faces no challenge in the primary. But he will in the fall.

On the 15th's Democratic ticket, Richard Daugherty, of Lowhill Township in Lehigh County, is facing Jackson Eaton, of Allentown. Daugherty is executive director of the Lehigh County Senior Center in Allentown; Eaton is an attorney.

One of the two polling places at Spring Garden Elementary School in Bethlehem had seen just more than 50 voters by about 11 a.m., indicating a lower than usual turnout.